Antenna status remote monitoring system and module

1. An antenna monitoring module electrically coupled to an antenna, the antenna monitoring module comprising:

an embedded element in the antenna;

a test antenna configured to send and receive radio frequency (RF) test signals to and from the antenna;

an input blocking module disposed at an input of the antenna monitoring module to facilitate receipt of a master test signal by the antenna monitoring module; and

an addressable mixed signal processor that determines an integrity of a connection to the antenna and a performance of the antenna based on measurements associated with the RF test signals and the master test signal.

2. The antenna monitoring module of claim 1 , wherein the input blocking module includes an input direct current (DC) blocking module.

3. The antenna monitoring module of claim 1 , further comprising a direct current (DC) output blocking module disposed at an output of the antenna monitoring module to the antenna.

4. The antenna monitoring module of claim 1 , further comprising an end of line detection module in communication with the addressable mixed signal processor to compare measurements associated with the embedded element and the master test signal against an expected value to determine the integrity of the connection to the antenna.

5. The antenna monitoring module of claim 4 , wherein the embedded element includes at least one of an inductor, a resistor, and a capacitor.

6. The antenna monitoring module of claim 1 , wherein the addressable mixed signal processor is configured to compare voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) measurements associated the RF test signals against an expected VSWR value to determine the performance of the antenna.

7. The antenna monitoring module of claim 1 , further comprising a directional coupler controlled by the addressable mixed signal processor and configured to pass signals between the input block module and the antenna.

8. The antenna monitoring module of claim 7 , further comprising a second directional coupler controlled by the addressable mixed signal processor and configured to pass signals between an RF transmitter and the test antenna.

9. The antenna monitoring module of claim 7 , further comprising an RF switch in communication with the addressable mixed processor and with the directional coupler to selectively facilitate transmission by the directional coupler.

10. The antenna monitoring module of claim 1 , further comprising a calibrated splitter connected to the input blocking module to electrically couple the antenna monitoring module to a distributed antenna network.

11. The antenna monitoring module of claim 1 further comprising indicator lights configured to be selectively controlled by the addressable mixed signal processor based on the determination of the integrity of the connection to the antenna and the performance of the antenna.

12. The antenna monitoring module of claim 1 , wherein the processor is adapted to perform bidirectional communication with a global transmitter and receiver.

13. The antenna monitoring module of claim 12 , wherein the bidirectional communication is by pulse-coded DC signal, a series of current pulses, AM radio signal, or FM radio signal.

14. The antenna monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the distance between the antenna and the test antenna is at least two times the wavelength of signals used by the antenna monitoring system.

15. The antenna monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the master test signal includes power and encoded data.

16. A distributed antenna network comprising:

a plurality of antennas;

a global transmitter and receiver; and

an antenna monitoring module associated with each of the plurality of antennas, the antenna monitoring module electrically coupled to the global transmitter and receiver via a calibrated splitter and including an element embedded in the antenna, a test antenna configured to send and receive radio frequency (RF) test signals to and from the antenna, an input blocking module disposed at an input of the antenna monitoring module to facilitate receipt of a master test signal from the global transmitter by the antenna monitoring module, and an addressable mixed signal processor that determines an integrity of a connection to the antenna and a performance of the antenna based on the RF test signals and the master test signal.

17. The antenna monitoring system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one calibrated splitter comprises a plurality of calibrated splitters, and wherein the at least one antenna monitoring module comprises a plurality of antenna monitoring modules each electrically coupled to one of the plurality of calibrated splitters.

18. The antenna monitoring system of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of calibrated splitters are DC pass-through calibrated splitters adapted to portion out RF energy to the plurality of antenna monitoring modules.

19. The antenna monitoring system of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of splitters allow for flow of low frequency data between the global transmitter and receiver and the plurality of antenna monitoring modules.

20. The antenna monitoring system of claim 17 , further comprising a main power source, wherein power provided by the main power source is presented to the plurality of calibrated splitters and the plurality of antenna monitoring modules.

21. The antenna monitoring system of claim 16 , wherein the distance between the antenna and the test antenna monitored is at least two times the wavelength of signals used by the at least one monitoring module.